'Plant blindness' is a term coined by Elisabeth Schussler and James Wandersee to describe 'the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment'. In the context of climate change, under-appreciation of nature leads to grave consequences, where there seems to be no place for nature in its free, 'untamed' version in the industrialized and concrete world - 'plant blindness leads to extinction blindness' (Ramsey Affifi). In my photographic research, I overcome my own plant blindness and explore the life of plants as shaped by humans - house plants, botanical garden plants, plants in the streets and in forests. I am interested in the commodification of nature, in how we shape it and connect with it, finding the impact of our socioeconomic status on the plants around us. A plant becomes a companion, shelter or takes the position of a mere decoration, a commodity.
In my photographic research, I discover plants in the streets, sometimes planted and taken care of by the city's anonymous inhabitants, who come up with resourceful ways of watering and maintaining them (e.g. using the existing air conditioners or concrete blocks to keep them in good shape). In other places, I find the ways in which local communities such as workers in industrial zones make plants part of their everyday lives - finding shelter under the trees or using their shade for water dispensers. In other parts of the city, I discover the exact opposite - plants are pure commodity, very often a costly sign of the status, planted for purely aesthetic purposes, reminiscent of statues, sustained by equally costly individual watering systems and not intended to be part of the community's everyday life.
In development